After the conquest of the Near East by Alexander the Great, c. 332 BCE, there was a gradual and steady increase of awareness and recognition among the Mediterranean cultures in regard to the Judeans. In this 300 BCE timeframe the Etruscans had submitted to Rome, and the Etruscan influence would contribute significantly to Roman culture in matters of ritual and religion. And it was around 300 BCE, in the Hellenistic period, that foreign observers began to investigate about the laws, traditions and customs of the Jewish people. In this general timeframe the Torah, purportedly giving a continuous narrative of the Creation of the world to the death of Moses, had been canonized (by priest-authors) as God’s official word. Strangely, God never showed up to testify personally, so the priestly verdict was all based on circumstantial necessities for retaining authority.

The Greek skeptic, historian and philosopher Hecataeus of Abdera (4th century BCE) recorded observations of Jewish life in his work Peri Hyperborean. Hecataeus noted with some wonderment the Jewish traditions which in that timeframe lavished their conspiring priests with highest prestige, and he pondered over the tribal laws given in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy which prevailed over Jewish social legislation. Indeed, the Jewish monarchy which had crystallized with King Josiah (died 608? BCE), was the same timeframe in which Deuteronomy had been conveniently discovered—in the walls of the Temple no less. But by this later 300 BCE timeframe, royalty had become completely overshadowed: kingship had given way once again to priestly authority.

Jews, Hecataeus noted, were more fanatically devoted to their God than were most Pagan cultures that he had encountered. That Jewish devotion to an unseen being was more strangling than Pagan spirituality which retained a closer affiliation with Nature in which the Pagan recognized the interlocking energy aspects that were eternally at work. The Pagans respected those creative energy aspects as godlike in their displayed energy attractions. The Jews, on the other hand, long dominated by priest-transmitted commandments, had been conditioned for generations through use of priestly writings from the time of King Josiah and so shared the belief in the God-led “history” as composed by the priests of Yahweh which starred Abram/Abraham as their God-blessed progenitor. According to priestly accounts, God had no interest in regard to the rest of the world.

The priest written “holy” history asserted that from the time of Abram/Abraham a whole string of alleged Israelite ancestors could be claimed by them, all of whom had allegedly spoken directly with God. The history, as presented in Exodus, for example, asserted that God had promised that his “chosen ones” would inherit the land of Canaan–which, inexplicably, was not virgin territory but just happened to have been long inhabited by other people! It was this invented priestly “history” which provided the elements for a shared identity among the Jewish tribespeople in a psychological manner that the mythologies of other cultures could not. Thus conditioned for generations, the Jews shared priest-written law codes attributed to Moses–a whole battery of 613 laws–which, strangely had not been found until the time of young King Josiah (see related post, A Priest’s Convenient Discovery, December 2011). The unity of the Judean people was anchored upon the priest-written holy account and their allusion of their faith’s historic past.

The book of Leviticus was supposedly a testament regarding the Levite people, but that book-heading seemed intentionally deceiving to Hecataeus, for the primary focus remained on claims of priestly authority and offered precious little concerning any actual Levite persons. Foreigners puzzled, therefore, over why Leviticus seemed to have been unceremoniously jammed into the migration narrative between the books of Exodus and Numbers, which interrupted the intriguing story flow with the insertions of ceremonial laws! To foreign investigators such as Hectaeus, it seemed that to be properly explained the priestly code really extended from Genesis through the book of Joshua, which made for a literary whole. Why, then, was Joshua omitted and only the five books, with Leviticus jammed in, promoted as being most holy? Only these five books had been canonized c. 400 BCE (Pentateuch).

Unquestionably, the priests of Yahweh were accomplished story tellers who liberally borrowed inspiration from prehistory astronomy-cosmological lessons which had once taught of Creations’ energies. Those interacting creative energies from the ancient lessons were then personified by the authors as Israelites and presented as having been living historic ancestors. Mesopotamian and Persian religious epics, for example, had offered the same ancient astronomy secrets also, but those creative principles given with those lessons were not presented in a manner which seemed to be directly linked to a certain people’s special history. Neither did the epic sagas of other cultures particularly inspire any principles of moral responsibility or ethics. And the Greek myths of deities and their epics of gods and heroes, as another example, were presented in metaphorical style, which were simply meant to inspire people with a personal sense of purpose, perseverance and strength through larger-than-life examples.

By the second century BCE there had evolved a questioning spirit among the Judean people themselves, which resulted from their association with Syrian and Greek cultures after Syria was conquered by Antiochus III, the Great. Antiochus reigned from 223 to 187 BCE, and he had obtained possession of all of Palestine and Coeli-Syria by 198 BCE. But the excesses of Antiochus’ son, Antiochus IV, eventually triggered what is known as the Maccabean revolt (166 BCE). Antiochus IV had captured Jerusalem and prohibited Judaism; he sought instead to establish the worship of Greek gods. Events would eventually bring Syria (and the Jews) under Roman control (64 BCE). The world was, in this timeframe, at the entrance into the Age of Pisces (c. 60 BCE), which would bring with it the construction of two faith systems that, in their turn, would reinterpret the Jewish formula of faith for their own purpose.

Back in the year 536 BCE the Persian King Cyrus II (The Great), freed the people of Judah from Babylonian Captivity and aided their return to Judah. After seventy years in exile virtually all that had once been programmed into Judean consciousness as sacred truth by the Yahweh priests–the priest-composed laws and traditions–had been largely forgotten. In that memorable seventy year exile referred to as the Babylonian Captivity the Judeans had, of course, been heavily influenced by the Chaldeans and Persians who became united into one nation by the might of Cyrus. This national unity seemed heaven-sent and the Judeans were heavily influenced by the religion of Zoroaster. Indeed, there is a Talmudic passage which freely acknowledges that the names of the angels (which earlier cultures associated with the planets), the names of the months, and even the letters of the alphabet were brought from the land of exile. It is from the return of the people of Judah to their homeland that the literature now cherished by Jews as the Torah was assembled and established as law.

The principal architect of the Judean reconstruction period is traditionally claimed to have been a priest named Ezra (c.458 BCE); however nothing has ever been presented to verify that such a person ever existed. It is more likely that some enterprising men among the returnees discovered versions of priest-written accounts which are now referred to as the E, the J, and the P versions, and edited them into the works now known as Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and also included the book Deuteronomy which had allegedly been “discovered” during remodeling of the Temple in 640 BCE. The returning Judeans set about rebuilding the Temple, and at the early meeting held there this revised anthology was read aloud, which gave origin to the Torah. To establish it as holy authority, the works were claimed to have been dictated by God to the character Moses.

It was from this general 536 BCE timeframe that the industrious revisionists of Judean faith also introduced the character of Job into their sacred myths, which theistically is not Hebrew but was most likely drawn from a Babylonian source. It was with this work that Judaism was presented with the premier appearance of “Satan,” with a capital S. What the returned exiles apparently had not carried back with them was the understanding of what certain elements in the tale represented in the original form. Unrecognized, or perhaps deliberately ignored, was the zodiacal and astronomical significance that was attached to such things as the names of the months, or the cosmological significance of the purely allegorical “angels.” It is possible that part of that mix-up may have been due to Zoroaster, the “prophet” of ancient Persia, whose ideas of “angels” became separated from older celestial references and redefined by him as an infernal hierarchy. The consequences of borrowing from the captors’ interpretations was that the Judeans became hopelessly confused in regard to the symbolism for similar ideas used in the so-called Pagan cultures. Thus today the western and near-east cultures are still trying to dig out from under that disastrous avalanche of sacred interpretation.

The period of the Judean exiles return and restructuring of their homeland and traditions seem strangely linked to an upsurge in the pursuance of higher awareness in the world which would mark the fifth century BCE. The teachings promoted by Zoroastrianism, for example, went on to develop as Mithraism, which would have a heavy impact on Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Fragments of the teachings and the hymns attributed to Zoroaster were assembled into a book that is known as the Avesta, or Zend-Avesta, and became the bible of the Persians. The teachings of Buddha (563?-480?) were passed orally for centuries before being written down as Buddhist scriptures. In this general timeframe also other thinkers would influence higher thought. Confuscius, Chinese philosopher (c. 551-479 BCE), Herodotus, the Greek historian (c. 485-425 BCE), Anaxagoras, the Greek philosopher (c. 500?-428 BCE), Pericles, Athenian statesman and orator (C. 500-429 BCE), Socrates, Greek philosopher (c. 470?-399 BCE), and Plato, Greek philosopher (c. 427-347 BCE). All these men were part of a seeming influx of seekers of life’s meaning which was theorized as radiating from an energy essence, which is commonly termed “soul.”

Rarely is any relationship to such true historical persons such as these acknowledged by the three major organized religions of the western world today. The Jews, for example, during their reinvention of faith, went to extremes to avoid contact with Greek philosophy, declaring such philosophical searching to be unclean. Christianity, which became formulated in Rome, embraced much from Greek influence and used it to counter the self-obessed theology of the Jews. But the Christian focus would also turn in upon itself, and as the Roman Empire declined the life that the Christian faith system came to embrace was firmly anchored upon achieving dominance in all earthly affairs, and from this demanded submission.

Across the centuries the Jews and Christians would spar continuously over which was the true representative of God. This might seem rather pointless since God is the avowed Creator and Sustainer of all things, but the argument is partly clarified when ego is mistaken for spirit. The running argument did not keep either faith system from commercial trading with “heathens” however. And thus it was that an Arab trade merchant assessed the arguments from both sides during his many merchant caravans across the Arabian desert in the 600’s CE. And eventually God decided to reveal his wishes to Mohammad also. Since the Creator is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, everything that was revealed to each belief system was relayed from God’s all-seeing (surreal) perspective. Thus in all these “holy” books–the Torah, New testament and Quran–there are found countless contradictions, which believers will, of course, deny exist. The escape hatch built into all these texts is always the claim of “revealed” word. Never do any of the godly representatives explain why would an omniscient being have to resort to such a shoddy method of communication in order to convey his wishes to the world.

What all this demonstrates–Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc.–is that the spiritual “truth” they each claim to represent is crafted, modified and controlled by those who were/are not well attuned to a true universal perspective. Thus their limited comprehension regarding the universal interrelatedness of all things has become reduced to dry dogma. We could, perhaps, conclude from all this that the nuts and bolts used in construction of such faith systems has consisted mainly of nuts.

In the timeframe accepted for Jesus’ existence on Earth, there were two Jewish sects vying for dominance of the Jewish faithful, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Both divisions of Judaism held that there was only one way—their priest-invented way, of course—to acknowledge a higher source. The rest of the citizens throughout the Roman Empire followed less judgmental spiritual practices.

Prior to the undocumented event of Jesus’ birth there was in Palestine, c. 112 BCE, a Jewish school, the Chasidim (Hassidim), meaning “the holy ones,” which became active and known as the Pharisees. Their chief predisposition was to resist all Greek or outside influences which a clique of scribes felt could undermine their sacred interpretation of how followers were to kowtow to that interpretation. In short, the Pharisees were therefore most emphatic in regard to what was to be presented as “Divine Law.” The championing of “Divine Law,” which was to be exercised in all public affairs, called for obedience without regard to priestly or aristocratic families—the Sadducees—or the old-line statesmen or the heroes who had brought the Assyrian wars to a successful conclusion. It was the inflexible Pharisees, however, despite their ban on outside influence, who brought ideas of salvation and resurrection into Jewish thought.

The Sadducees (or Zadokites), on the other hand, were aristocratic (largely descended through the older priest class), and they held that the priest-written Torah was binding in all matters. Thus the Sadducees rejected the version of the “Divine Law” as it was interpreted and championed by the Chasidim scribes, and demanded obedience to the older ancestral customs and legal standpoints. Equally inflexible as the Pharisees, the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection, in angels, nor in any personal continuance after death, a doctrine that clung closely to the original Torah theology.

By c. 60 BCE—as planet Earth entered the Age of Pisces—the rabbinical hierarchical system as had been instituted in Jerusalem had existed for about three centuries. The Jews in Alexandria, Egypt, however, paid no allegiance to any form of rabbinical institution which had been responsible for the Talmudic presentation. It was in that older presentation that heavy attention was placed upon customs as they had evolved in Judea, and which would later be collected (c. 200 CE) into the Mishna, a collection of decisions that had been laid down by priests in Jerusalem and which were aimed largely at prohibiting the rearing of children in Greek lore. The priests in Jerusalem had virtually jack-hammered their priestly decisions into “legal” status.

The capture of Jerusalem by the Roman general Pompey in 60 BCE had been deemed necessary due to the aggressive power struggle between two sons of King Aristobulus who had recently died. Years later, however, in 47 BCE, the Rome-installed Herod was driven from Jerusalem by one of the former King Aristobulus’ sons, Antigonus, and he then ruled as the last Hasmonean priest-king until 37 BCE when his reign was ended by Marc Antony. Jerusalem’s struggle to disassociate itself from Rome galvanized even more after Antigonus was scourged, then bound to a stake and beheaded. Herod was then reinstated to rule, and he sought to consolidate his position with the Jews by wedding Mariamne, a princess of the Hasmonean line. Herod later bequeathed portions of his kingdom between three sons, and the Roman Emperor Augustus confirmed the will. The division of the kingdom was not appreciated among the Jews.

Into this long simmering brew there appeared the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher, Philo (c. 20 BCE – 50 CE), considered the greatest Jewish philosopher of this timeframe. For orthodox Judaism, as represented by Palestinian Jews of the time, the study of languages, especially Greek, was regarded as profane and worthy only for slaves and infidels. But Philo was born into a wealthy and aristocratic Jewish family in Greek-founded Alexandria, thus his education had included Greek literature and philosophy, especially that of Plato, Pythagoras and the Stoics. Philo’s writings were to exert considerable influence upon both Jewish and Christian thought, and his writings heavily influenced the Alexandrian Christian theologians Clement (no genuine documentation of him has ever been produced) and Origen (185?-254? CE). Philo’s philosophic endeavors brought a breath of fresh air into the congested cell of orthodox Jewish thought. Philo maintained, as did many of his contemporaries, that the major part of the Pentateuch (first five books of scriptures), especially its “historical” and legal portions, should be explained allegorically, for it was only in this way that its truest and deepest meaning could be understood. This wise advice has been steadfastly ignored by the three interrelated western organized faith systems as they evolved.

A Jewish rabbi and teacher named Hillel rose to prominence from 30 BCE to c. 09 CE. He was the first Jewish scholar to systematize the interpretation and explanation of scriptural law. Hillel had to contend with a rival named Shammai, an eminent doctor of the Jewish law at the time of Herod, and he stood rigidly insistent upon a merciless interpretation of priest-written scriptural law. The conflict between the two schools of thought was to endure for nearly one hundred years after Hillel’s death. A persistent allegation is that Hillel’s teachings influenced young Jesus, for many of the sayings attributed to Jesus are startlingly similar to those of Hillel. The vague timeframe projected for Jesus’ childhood as presented in the New Testament can be seen to loosely correspond to this general timeframe. However, any contemporary historian, writer or Roman aristocrat in charge of that region’s affairs would have been intimately familiar with such interpretations of scriptural laws: in fact some aristocrats married members of the Herodian family.

In the timeframe of Nero (37-68 CE) and the marriage to his pro-Jewish second wife Poppaea Sabina, various Roman aristocrats, statesmen and authors were becoming alarmed over the Empire’s stability due to the constant uprisings instigated by Jewish agitators. It was into this political unease during Nero’s reign that the first books known as Mark and Matthew suddenly appeared, which introduced into the Roman Empire culture the teachings that were attributed to a benevolent and tolerant Jewish man named Jesus.

The role of religion in incidents of escalating violence throughout the world is broadly ignored and suppressed in daily “news” reporting, and this avoidance is peculiarly conspicuous in the United States. The media’s self-imposed censorship of religious pretentiousness and deceitfulness in synthetic acts of serving civil freedom is something of an oxymoron.

The relationship between each person’s taught belief system and a cultivated tendency to fan it into physical violence rests in a complicated asymmetrical balance of emotions that are due in part to the contradictory elements that make up religious “traditions” and practice. Much of western organized religions have become so heavily politicized and pretentious that any creditable spiritual content it had has settled like sludge to the bottom of the barrel.

The Torah, the Christian Bible, and the Quran are close cousins that have indulged in an ongoing incestuous relationship for millennia. Each “holy” record claims common ancestors, and the love-hate infatuation of their close relatedness has bred only deformed mental attitudes that have disturbed the whole world. Each “faith” extols the virtues of compassion, altruism, humility, mercy, peace and justice, while also relating alleged god-approved acts such as stoning, warring, enslavement, destruction and deceit. Spiritual integrity cannot evolve in such an agitated environment for it teaches seekers to direct noble sentiment of respect only to specific persons or to some man-conceived method of honoring the Source of all things.

That which is revered as “faith” is, more often than not, little more than a focus on some self-proclaimed authority and a practice of bibliolatry—text worship—that is always open to questionable interpretation. Extreme devotion to the written word that was presented by men who awed tribal members with their improvable claims of divine favoritism is like trying to drive forward down the highway of life while staring into the rearview mirror. It is indispensable to know what is behind you, but it is more essential to keep your eyes on the road itself. Too often the aim of those “authority” figures seeking to direct traffic is to stir up a sense of sanctified rage in others which feed into their sense of personal power more than it accomplishes anything with decisive merit.

If one studies the genuine, honest history of major western religious movements—not just the faith’s approved whitewashed versions—it is a shock to find that most pages are blood-soaked. To hold up such falsified storied accounts as examples to follow to meet one’s higher potential assures nothing but continued tragedy. If we remove the blinders which “faith” has pressured upon us, we can see that even today the savagery of sacrificing diverse life expressions is accepted as being appealing to the Source of all that diversity!

We need look no further than the sorry loss of spiritual integrity now being advocated throughout some African nations. As Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity has spread across Nigeria and Congo, the teachings of the missionaries has been that the Bible is the perfect word of God. That perverted teaching has insured the practice of bibliolatry, the literal interpretation of every word. The result has been the heartless indulgence among the converts in beating, burning, and disfiguring of children that have been condemned by Christian pastors and priests as “witches”! It is all done in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, so how can it be evil?

And let us not ignore any longer the horror that has recently been advocated in the African nation of Uganda under the instigation of Evangelicals known as “The Family” from the United States. Uganda’s president succumbed to Evangelical pressure and converted to their highly politicized form of “faith.” Now convinced that he is fully filled with holy insight he has accepted the challenge of “wiping out” homosexuality in his earthly (and over populated) realm. Rather than seek to understand causes from biological perspectives, he has chosen instead to dedicate his leadership to eliminating the natural diversity in life’s pool. Thus he promoted a bill that allowed the death penalty for any gay infected with AIDS, and even advocated jail time for parents that did not report their homosexual teens to the police. Gestapo tactics for God.

Thus throughout Africa the Evangelical and Pentecostal missionaries still peddle their Bibles and seek to convert the largely docile people into acceptance of sacrificing innocent persons to receive favorable reward from the Prince of Peace.

The role of religion in incidents of escalating violence throughout the world is broadly ignored and suppressed in daily “news” reporting, and this avoidance is peculiarly noticeable in the United States. Self-imposed censorship of religious pretentiousness in the name of freedom is something of an oxymoron.

The relationship between a person’s taught belief system and a cultured tendency to be fanned into physical violence rests in a complicated asymmetrical balance of emotions that are due in part to the contradictory elements that make up religious “traditions” and practice. Western organized religions are so heavily politicized and pretentious that any creditable spiritual content has settled like sludge to the bottom of the barrel.

The Torah, the Christian Bible, and the Koran are products of an ongoing incestuous relationship that has been carried on for millennia. Each “holy” record claims common ancestors, and the love-hate infatuation of their close relatedness has bred only deformed mental attitude that has disturbed the whole world. Each “faith” extols the virtues of compassion, altruism, humility, mercy, peace and justice, while also relating alleged god-approved acts of stoning, killing, warring, enslavement, destruction and deceit. Spiritual integrity cannot evolve in such an agitated environment for it teaches seekers to direct noble sentiment or respect only to specific persons or some method of honoring the Source of all things.

That which is revered as “faith” is, more often than not, little more than a focus on some self-proclaimed authority and a practice of bibliolatry—text worship—that is always open to questionable interpretation. Extreme devotion to the written word presented by men who awed tribal members with their improvable claims of divine favoritism is like trying to drive forward down the highway of life while staring into the rearview mirror. It is indispensable to know what is behind you, but it is more essential to keep your eyes on the road itself. Too often the aim of those “authority” figures seeking to direct traffic is to stir up a sense of sanctified rage in others which feeds into their sense of personal power more than it accomplishes anything with decisive merit.

If one studies the genuine, honest history of major western religious movements—not the faith’s approved whitewashed version—it is a shock to find that most pages are blood soaked. To hold up such storied accounts as examples to follow to attain one’s higher potential assures nothing but continued tragedy. If we remove the blinders which “faith” has pressured upon us, we can see that even today the savagery of sacrificing diverse life expressions is seen as appealing to the Source of that diversity!

We need look nor further than the sorry loss of spiritual integrity now being advocated throughout some African nations. As Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity has spread across Nigeria and Congo, the teaching of the missionaries has been that the Bible is the perfect word of god. That perverted teaching has insured the practice of bibliolatry, the literal interpretation of every word. The result has been the heartless indulgence in beating, burning, and disfiguring children that have been condemned by Christian pastors and priests as “witches!” It is all done in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, so how can it be evil?

And let us not ignored any longer the horror that is now being advocated in the African nation of Uganda under the instigation of Evangelicals known as “The Family” from the United States. Uganda’s president succumbed to Evangelical pressure and converted to their highly politicized form of “faith.” Now fully filled with holy insight Uganda’s president has accepted the challenge of “wiping out” homosexuality in his earthly realm. Rather than seeking to understand biological causes he has chosen instead to dedicate his leadership to eliminating the natural diversity in life’s pool. Thus he promotes a bill that allows for the death penalty for any gay infected with AIDS, and even advocates jail time for parents that do not report their homosexual teens to the police.

Today throughout Africa the Evangelicals still peddle their Bibles and seek to convert the largely docile people into acceptance of sacrificing innocent persons for godly favor.

Long before the Torah account became the official declaration–and well before the version known as the Old Testament became installed as the official accounting of how everything came into being, there were many documents written in Hebrew that were held as sacred but which over time became conveniently lost or purposely suppressed. Among those was a text known as The Book of the Story of Adam, which is alluded to in Genesis 5:1 (where it reads, “This is the book of the generations of Adam”) and which implies that the ten generations from Adam to Noah had been more detailed.

In spite of heavy censoring of pre-biblical texts, a few of those early poetic Hebrew-style writings have been discoverd, but most are known primarily through brief fragments that have been quoted from in authorized books such as Numbers 21:14 (“Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord…”); Joshua 10:13 (“Is it not written in the book of Jasher?”); and in Samuel 1:18 (“…behold, it is written in the Book of Jasher.”)

Among the documents that were shoved into oblivion were epic accounts such as The Book of the Wars ofYahweh; another was known as the Book of Yashar. Both of these covered a more in-depth account of the Israelites’ alleged desert ordeal and a more grandiose version of the invasion of Canaan than the account passed down as the authorized version now found in Exodus and Numbers. From the book of Joshua 18:9 it can be discerned that another seven-part version once existed which glowingly described the coveted land of Canaan and its cities. In the book of Isaiah, 34:16, it says, “Seek ye out the book of the Lord, and read…” The book referred to there was the text known as The Book of Yahweh which was likely a collection of allegorical fables about the habits and traits of animals from which moral significance could be drawn.

Other books which would probably throw a different light on things held sacred by their mythic references might well have been presented in documents known as: 1) Acts of Solomon, 2) the Book of Geneaology, 3) the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, 4) Of Kings of Israel, and 5) Of the Sons of Levi.

It would be up to much later generations to add to the sacred accounts in attempts to clarify Mosaic Law and add moral, historical and anecdotal texts. But they, too, dipped into mythic material to validate the prescribed laws, social customs and rituals. With these little pieces of an ancient puzzle we are privileged to see how the so-called “revealed word of God” evolved.